FE REPORT
Speakers at a programme on Saturday urged the government to impose soft regulation on social media and over-the-top (OTT) platforms as the sector is still in the preliminary stage.
They also suggested the authorities concerned to consult with all stakeholders before finalising the drafted Regulation for Digital, Social Media and OTT Platforms 2021.
The opinion came at a seminar on "Regulation of Digital, Social Media & OTT Platforms: The Need to Strike the Right Balance" organised by The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) at its office at the city's Motijheel.
Presided over by FBCCI President Md Jashim Uddin, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar addressed the programme as the chief guest while Information and Broadcasting Secretary Mokbul Hossain spoke as the special guest.
Managing Partner at Akhtar Imam & Associates Barrister Rashna Imam presented the keynote paper.
Panellists at the event were, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Director General (System & Services) Md Nasim Parvez, Asia Internet Coalition Managing Director Jeff Paine, Head of Public Policy (Bangladesh) of Meta Sabhanaz Rashid Diya, FBCCI Director Syed Almas Kabir, RTV CEO Syed Ashik Rahman, BongoBD Co-founder & Director Navidul Huq and Dhaka Tribune Executive Editor Reaz Ahmad.
In his speech, Mr Mustafa Jabbar said as per a high court directive, two ministries -- Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology -- drafted the regulation.
He said social media like Facebook and YouTube don't function as per Bangladesh's law but their own community standard which is made out of Western perspective.
"There are dissimilarities in the culture of Bangladesh and countries like the United States, they don't need to deal with issues like communalism which sometimes becomes very difficult to deal with in Bangladesh due to social media," the minister said.
Because of that reason, there have been incidents of shutting down internet in certain part of the country in the past to tame down violent communal acts, he stated.
He also said that local companies abide by local laws but it is difficult to make international ones liable for their content. Under such circumstances, the government has been in continuous talks with Facebook and TikTok about formulating the regulation, he added.
Besides, he suggested content creators to apply for intellectual property rights for their work so that they get the protection in any platforms, local or international ones.
Noting that governments in developed nations impose heavy fine on social media platforms for rules violation, BTRC DG Nasim Parvez said Bangladesh also needs to develop a system to prevent vested quarters from harming individuals and the country's image by abusing different social media.
He said the Bangladesh government has been holding regular talks with social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok about how to manage malicious contents that are threat to individuals as well as the country.
Addressing the event, Sabhanaz Rashid Diya, an official of Meta Platforms Inc, mother company of Facebook, said, "We welcome regulations, we aren't anti-regulation as it is required for the safety of the people."
Stating that controlling contents in social media is quite a complex process, she said Facebook has introduced language based artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse its contents. But still, there is room for more investment in technology, needed to spot harmful contents, she added.
BongoBD Cofounder Navidul Huq said ease of doing business for OTT platforms will be hampered due to duality in regulatory authority - one led by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the other by the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunication and Information Technology.
Mr Almas Kabir, director-in-charge of FBCCI standing committee on digital connectivity, networking and BPO, said that the global OTT market is worth US$ 178 billion now which may reach about $275 billion in the next 10 years.
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